Friday, October 8, 2010

Students Share their Stories

Anonymous, Haven Middle School, EvanstonI came into public middle school at the beginning of 7th grade and ended up leaving half way through the year because of bullying. From the beginning of the year there was another girl in my class who would come up and talk to me. At first it was just about how I used to be home schooled, but after a while she would harass me about how I didn't fit in because of it and didn't have many friends. The teacher did notice but he never intervened beyond telling her once every few days to go sit somewhere not by me. After wearing out the topic of my being home schooled (since I got fairly immune to it) she moved on to how I dressed and cut my hair and generally expressed myself in terms of gender. That's when it got worse. Once she found out teasing me about that got to me, she would do it every day and started tripping me or kicking me in the halls. It made me dread going to school every day. She would call me a lesbian, use gender slurs, and tried to set me up with people against my will. And I tried talking to the teacher, and my parents talked to the administration, but all that happened to her was she got told, once, not to do it. There was no rule that said they had to punish her, so they didn't...

Anonymous, Sutherland Elementary School, ChicagoIn first grade I was chased across the schoolyard during recess every day. The two boys were chasing me because of a necklace that I wore. It made me dread recess everyday, and I would avoid the students with any chance I got.

Every day during second grade I was chased by a schoolmate. One day he caught up to me and physically assaulted me. When his teacher was notified of the incident she said she "didn't want to hear any tattle tale-ing." The situation was not resolved.

Juan T., Prosser High School, ChicagoTowards the end of freshman year I was assaulted on the basis of being gay. The same day on another part of the campus my other friend was also assaulted to the point where they were hospitalized. The school was not much help and did nothing to the students because it was the end of the year.

About Me

We are a coalition of individuals and organizations statewide who support safe, welcoming and supportive schools for all students. PSVI came together to support SB 3266, which became law on June 27, 2010. Now, PSVI will help support the work of the Illinois School Bullying Prevention Task Force to evaluate the effectiveness of current school violence prevention efforts in Illinois schools and to recommend promising practices to strengthen and add to those initiatives to benefit all students in Illinois.
Contact Sarah Schriber at sarah@illinoissafeschools.org to join PSVI.